The Demand Solutions Blog

I recently read - with interest - the coverage of NMHC's recent spring Board of Directors meeting in Chicago. What really caught my eye was a talk entitled "Seven Ways to Succeed in the Future of Real Estate," given by Dror Poleg, the founder of Rethinking.RE. The presentation discussed how technology is redefining real estate, shifting value from the physical space to the services provided.

In this environment, the logic goes, the customer, rather than the property, increasingly becomes the asset of your business. Space becomes a service and competitors become your partners. From this radical view of an increasingly inverted world, the idea of the customer becoming the asset resonated with me, based on my own experience in the multifamily industry.

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It's June, the sun is out (mostly) here in Denver, and like all locals involved in the multifamily industry, I'm looking forward to welcoming a few thousand esteemed colleagues to my hometown for next week's NAA Apartmentalize conference.

This year I'm excited not only because the show is in Colorado, but because I'm taking part in what promises to be an excellent panel, discussing one of my favorite topics: the interplay of pricing, lead generation and sales.  I will be joined for this discussion (which takes place at 5 pm on Thursday, June 27) by my friends John Reardon of Beacon Communities and David Dear of Equity Residential.

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A few weeks ago we discussed the experience of leasing up big projects and the importance of setting up unit type groupings in the pricing & revenue management (PRM) system. In that article I noted that too many operators neglect unit type setup, creating categories that make no more sense to a prospect than a shoe store that grouped all of its shoes by size alone.

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Last week we were talking about the experience of leasing up big projects, and it reminded me of something that I’ve advised companies against doing for years.  It’s to do with the setup of pricing and revenue management systems (RMS) – a set of tasks that do not always receive the attention that they should.

When companies set up new properties on an RMS, one of the most frequent missteps, even for experienced revenue management departments, is the execution of floor plan groupings.  It’s an essential set-up step, as it determines the level at which the system will forecast and make pricing recommendations.

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Just before a 29-year-old friend of mine was due to stay in a fairly upscale hotel recently, the staff texted her before check-in and suggested that she join the loyalty program, hinting that it would be beneficial during her stay.   

She did, and the hotel upgraded her to a suite instead of a room and also gave her a card for a free glass of wine. My friend was thrilled and the hotel earned a customer for life. 

They accomplished that by making her feel like she and her hard-earned money were valued. My friend, who is a millennial and a journalist, isn’t making a lot of money now, but her income is likely to increase in the next few years. When she can afford that suite herself, she’s very likely to book at the same hotel. 

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